Storms in Time: Nabiki's Story
by LeBibish
Summary: Only a second ago, Nabiki had been teasing Ranma and Akane, driving her younger sister into an incandescent rage. Now, Ranma had disappeared and Akane sat motionless, her battle aura a darkened halo around her. Nabiki struggled to move, feeling each muscl
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Neither rain nor snow, not Ranma ½ nor Sailor Moon belong to me. WARNING: UNBETAD.

She sat still at the table, her lips twisted into a smirk as she stared at her younger sister. The food in front of her was still fresh, if no longer quite as warm as when it had first been laid out. Across from her, the sliding door separating the room from the yard had begun to rot.

Her chest rose, lungs expanding with air painfully slowly. Her mind moved quicker than her time-impaired body could, racing with confusion and fear. Something was very wrong. Only a second ago, Nabiki had been teasing Ranma and Akane, driving her younger sister into an incandescent rage. Now, Ranma had disappeared and Akane sat motionless, her battle aura a darkened halo around her. Nabiki struggled to move, feeling each muscle flex and contract ever so slowly.

She wasn't sure how long it took her to stand up, but every step away from the table was easier and quicker. Passing through the doorway to the kitchen in search of Kasumi, Nabiki froze in shock. A think layer of dust coated the room and the sickly sweet smell of rotten food overwhelmed her.

One of the grime-covered windows was broken, jagged pieces of glass lying on the counter, and Nabiki shivered in the chill air. Where was Kasumi? The immaculate housekeeper would never have allowed her kitchen to fall so far.

Nabiki wandered through the house in a daze. It seemed to have been abandoned for months; the walls and furniture were covered in dust and mold. Glancing outside through broken windows Nabiki could see that the dojo and yard were in even worse shape, as if decades of neglect had passed by. Patches of grass reached past her knees and the pond was overgrown with weeds. What little water could be seen was a scummy green and there were no sign of the koi that had once swum gracefully through it.

The roof of the dojo had caved in, the walls around it crumbling and splintered. Some of the wood seemed be burnt, but other timbers were untouched. Nabiki fell to her knees, her arms wrapped hugged tightly against her stomach. Ranma, Kasumi, and Genma were no where to be found. The only other people in the compound were her father and Akane, still sitting at the table, completely frozen.

She might have cried, although she would never admit to such. She simply sat there, lost in her own house, for some time before she heard the voices.

They came from outside the compound, a low murmur that inspired hope in the terrified girl. She wasn't alone in this strange world. She jumped up and raced outside, forgoing the closed gate for a large hole in the wall leading to the street.

The small band of people cautiously picking their way through overgrown streets was already past the Tendo Dojo and moving steadily away from her. "Wait! Please..." She cried, stumbling after them. Shocked by the desperation in her own voice, she stopped and tried to calm down. She didn't want to seem weak in front of what could be a group of predators.

The group had turned around at the sound of her voice, and was approaching her warily. She scanned the people, hoping to recognize someone. There were three adults carrying large staffs. One of them was the manager at the nearby grocery store but she didn't know the other man or woman. At the back of the group was a teenage boy, dragging a large cart behind him, and a small girl, both of whom looked familiar though she couldn't quite place them.

The girl tugged on the youth's sleeve. "Is she a ghost?" The question was loud and it echoed down the street in the child's high-pitched voice. Nabiki blinked. Was that it? Could she be a ghost? It would explain why the house and yard had seemed so old and neglected. It didn't explain why her family seemed to be frozen though.

"I don't think so. She notices us and she looks pretty normal." The man said.

"That's no guarantee." The woman said, shaking her head. "Akio met a guy coming through Tokyo and traveled all the way to the borders of the Estate with him. Didn't realize he was a ghost until he disappeared right before they reached the gate."

"Yeah, but her clothes are pretty modern. She's probably a Sleeper just woken up. Interesting, to grab two Sleepers in one trip, but it's been known to happen."

"Excuse me." Nabiki inserted just a hint of annoyance into her tone, as if she was irritated at being talked about instead of to. In truth, she was glad to have had a moment to think and compose herself.

The old man in front gave her a considering look. "Well, Sleeper or ghost, she don't look too likely to harm us. Might as well take her to the Estate; let My Lord make a decision."

The boy had been studying her thoughtfully. He had started at her cold tone and a look of recognition dawned on his face. "Hey, I think I know you. You're Nabiki Tendo, right?"

The faces of the adults went blank. Nabiki, who had been about to answer positively, paused. They were hiding something. What was the right answer? Deciding it was too risky to lie, especially since she knew the man and boy at least a little, she responded with the truth. "Yes."

"Any relation to Kasumi Tendo?"

Nabiki's mind raced. Friends of Kasumi tended to be helpful and considerate of her family, at least until they got to know them better. Kasumi didn't have any enemies. "She is my older sister."

The three adults traded significant glances, but didn't say anything. Nabiki wanted desperately to know what was going on, but she knew she was at a disadvantage in situation, in more ways than one. She began to plot.

The group invited her to travel with them to a place called the Estate, which was apparently a safe place. Lacking knowledge of the situation or any other place to go, Nabiki agreed. They offered to let her grab some things from the house before they left. She knew she should get some supplies and mementoes but she couldn't bear to go back into the ruined house so she shook her head and they started off.

They kept up a steady pace traveling through neighborhoods Nabiki had once known. Sometimes a house would look fairly normal but then the one next door would be a ruin. Other houses were gone entirely, replaced by fields of tall grass or groves of trees. The trees were as odd as the houses, some flowering, some fruiting, and others completely bare. She even saw one tree covered in snow standing next to a peach tree dripping with just budding flowers.

Occasionally one of the adults would veer off, heading into a building or through the trees. Mostly they came back shaking their heads, but once in a while they returned with boxes or bags of food and necessities to load into the hand-drawn cart.

There was little conversation throughout the trip. The adults stayed wary and close-mouthed, one of them always ranging in front of the group and one keeping a watch behind them. The little girl, Kairi, was new herself, apparently having "woken up" in a park they had passed by a couple of days before. Nabiki's only source of information was the teen, Ichigo. He did seem to know her, or at least her reputation as the Ice Queen of Furinkan, for h seemed hesitant to be too friendly. He might have been taking a cue from the adults, or he might simply have been tired from dragging the ever heavier cart all day. She had to work hard, phrasing her questions innocently and sweetly to coax the information from him.

She did learn that it was Ichigo's first time leaving the safety of the Estate, a piece of land unaffected by the disaster—Ichigo called it the Time—which had devastated the rest of the world. Nabiki wondered if the rest of the world was truly as strange as Nerima had become. She had never believed in Armageddon but maybe it had happened anyway. She guessed from their actions that the group was foraging for supplies to take back to this Estate. Ichigo confirmed it.

"There's a couple groups who go out. The Estate fits all of us pretty much but it's hard to grow food for everyone, especially since we still get people coming in. And stuff like shampoo or soap has to be brought in. It's pretty dangerous." He said cockily. "You never know what you'll find out here. Maybe a samurai ghost who thinks it's his right to kill anyone or a Walker who's so confused and scared that he starts attacking anything on sight. One group even ran into a dinosaur! That's why you have to get permission from My Lord to go out."

"My Lord? Who's that?" Nabiki asked.

"The Queen's Knight. He's amazing! They say he was a Walker, one of the original ones who never Slept, and he found the Estate first and set it up to help people. Most of the time he's on the Estate. He protects the Queen and he's in charge of a lot of stuff. But sometimes when a hunting group is late coming in or the Queen says there's trouble coming, he goes out and--it's so cool. He's the best fighter in the world. He can beat anything!" Ichigo's face was awe-struck and his voice was respectful.

Nabiki knew a couple of people who could be considered the best fighter in the world--especially if their competition was lost to this Time--but she didn't think any of them had the leadership skills to run an Estate full of people. Maybe--no. It wasn't possible.

The woman who had been scouting ahead dropped back to join the group. "We're coming up to a safe camp. We'll sleep there and, with luck, be back at the Estate tomorrow."

"It's barely afternoon now. Couldn't we just go straight back to this Estate place?" Nabiki asked.

The woman shook her head. "Time is different than it used to be. It may seem like early afternoon, but it could be dark anytime now. Or it could start to snow or a pack of wild dogs could show up. Best to sleep in a safe place and be fresh for whatever happens."

Nabiki shuddered at the unpredictability. "What makes this place safe then? For that matter, what makes the Estate safe? How am I supposed to sleep? How do I know I won't wake up with all of you frozen or gone? Or that a building won't fall down on my head!" The panic that had been bubbling up all day started to push past her hard-earned control, her voice rising into a shriek and tears gathering at her eyes.

Ichigo stared dumbfounded at her. Kairi began to cry and the man who had been walking beside the cart picked her and tried to soothe her. The woman gazed at Nabiki, and her eyes softened. "The Time is dangerous, you need to understand that. But that doesn't mean there aren't safe places. The Estate is the best place, with the Queen's magic protecting it. In all the seasons I've been there the Time has never penetrated the Queen's border." Nabiki started to calm down. "The place we're going to sleep isn't as safe as the Estate, but it is a shrine. The Time doesn't affect holy places as much as it does everywhere else. We'll still have to keep guard, but there won't be much affecting the flow of time. That means no buildings falling down and nobody's going to freeze."

Ichigo nodded hurriedly. "Yeah! Don't worry 'bout turning into a Sleeper. As long as you stay out of the real Storms, you can tell when you turn into a slower piece of time. It gets hard to move and everything but you can turn around and it won't get you. It's OK!"

Nabiki was furious with herself for the lapse but glad she had gotten some information out of their reassurances. She just wished she had planned it instead of breaking down for real. She stayed silent for the rest of the way to the shrine.

The woman introduced herself as Mitsuko and showed Nabiki where there was a stash of futons and blankets in the shrine. They laid out the bedding while Ichigo and the store manager built a fire in the yard. The older man took Kairi to scout the shrine and make sure everything was holding up.

"We set up caches of supplies in all the shrines we come across and try to stop by them every few trips out or so. They're good, safe places to stop and even some protection from the Storms. Sometimes we run into Walkers who have learned that the shrines are safe."

Nabiki smoothed down a blanket; she found the familiar action soothing. Kasumi rarely had time to clean her sisters' rooms as well as the rest of house, especially with Akane making holes in everything. "You mentioned "storms" earlier. You don't sound like you're talking about rain storms."

"You're right. Though they're more like a typhoon than a thunder storm. Except instead of stirring up water, these stir up Time." Mitsuko sounded grim. "I was a nurse, working for a small practice in Juuban when the first ones hit. Everything went crazy--it felt like the world turned over." She pulled some cooking supplies out of a storage closet and moved over to the fire. "I don't know how long I stumbled around. It's hard to keep track of days when from one block to the next you might walk through three different seasons and move from mid-morning to the sunset. Everyone I saw was frozen. I thought I must be crazy. I hoped I was." She fell silent, staring into the flames.

Nabiki shivered. She wondered what would have happened, if she hadn't found the group so quickly. Would she have survived, wandering about on her own, or would she have succumbed to terror and despair? She imagined herself, out of her mind with loneliness, sitting back down at the table with her father and sister, waiting for the mind-numbing slowness to take her back into Sleep.

Mitsuko's voice shook her out of her nightmarish vision. "Eventually another Storm hit the area I was in. That one brought people and buildings with it--ghosts from other eras, torn from their own times and dropped here as if they were picked up by a tornado. Some of them really were like ghosts--transparent and all that. They didn't even seem to notice that they weren't still in their own time. Some, though, were as real as you or me, and just as scared."

Nabiki arched an eyebrow, trying to communicate the supreme confidence and devil-may-care attitude that had sustained her through Furinkan High, home of the weird and violent. Mitsuko just smiled at her knowingly. "Anyways, eventually I made it to the Estate, safe enough. It's a good place."

The old man and Kairi had returned during Mitsuko's reminisces. The others stayed respectfully silent while she spoke. The store manager, who Nabiki vaguely thought was named Kenji, began helping Mitsuko to cook. The old man grunted as he settled down on the ground. "Place looks good. There's some repairs to be done on the north wall. Not much. The boy and I can take care of it after dinner." Ichigo grimaced but didn't protest.

Dinner was a quiet affair, everyone lost in their own thoughts. Half way through, Kairi started yawning and Mitsuko took her off to bed. Ichigo and the old man disappeared, presumably to do the repairs. Nabiki sat, staring into the fire, trying to process the day--hoping wistfully that it was all a dream. Tomorrow she would wake up in her own bed, with the smell of one of Kasumi's breakfasts wafting up the stairs. Akane would be coming in from her run, glaring at Ranma and Genma as they sparred by the pond. She never forgave them for not including her in their matches.

Nabiki shook her head. As much as she wished this was a dream, she was a pragmatist. She would have to treat this as if it was real, no matter what, and she needed more control over the situation. Past experience told her that control was directly related to information. Knowledge is power, after all. She had gathered a fair amount of information from Mitsuko and Ichigo, but there were still some vital questions she needed to have answered.

"Please, tell me more about the Estate. Who is this Queen? Can she really keep us safe?" Nabiki injected a slight tremble in her voice. It would be easier to get information if Kenji was trying to reassure her--and it wasn't at all hard to sound scared, the way things were.

"Don't worry there, miss. The Queen's got a lot of power, right enough. She used to be one of them Sailor Scouts--the moon princess I guess. Didn't come over to Nerima, but they did a lot of good in Juuban and the towns round there." He smiled at her.

The moon princess? He must mean Sailor Moon. Nabiki had heard about the Sailor Scouts and their fight against demons in Juuban. They never came into Nerima so she hadn't bothered with them too much. One or two of the demons they fought had wandered into Nerima though. It had taken Ranma, Ryouga, Sham Pu, and Mu Tsu to pin it down long enough for Ku Lon to pull out some magical artifact and destroy it. The scouts were definitely powerful--and hadn't one of them used time in her magical attacks?

As Nabiki pondered the connection between the Queen of the Estate and the Sailor Scouts, the sun set in rapid motion and darkness fell. "Well, there we go," Kenji laughed. "Good thing too. It's about time to sleep and I hate trying to sleep when the sun's up. Doesn't feel right."

Ichigo and the old man came around the corner, casting long shadows in the flickering light of the fire. "I'll take first watch," grunted the old man. "Boy can take second, Kenji third, Mitsuko last. The woman's always up first anyways. You, girl, get plenty of rest. Still got a trek to the Estate tomorrow and then you'll have a long day getting settled in. Or a long night, if this darkness hits there."

Nabiki blinked but followed the younger men into the shrine. They were all sleeping in the same room, for safety's sake. Mitsuko had pulled a pair of pajamas out of the cart and directed Nabiki to change in the back room. Her school uniform wasn't comfortable enough to sleep in, and anyway it was filthy after a day of walking though the chaos of the new world. It felt good to wear something clean although a bath would have been even better.

Nabiki had never been a morning person even with a good night's sleep. In an unfamiliar place, surrounded by strange people, with her family either missing or frozen in time, Nabiki Tendo did not get a good night's sleep. When Mitsuko shook her awake with just enough time to change and grab a power bar before the group set off, Nabiki was groggy and grumpy. She marched along quietly, barely even processing the weirdness of the world around her. It didn't help that it was still dark and remained so throughout their long hike towards the Estate.

They didn't stop for lunch instead munching on supplies from the cart. The adults rarely left the group and then they only went into groves of fruit trees or gardens. Nabiki assumed that they must have cleaned out the stores and houses this close to the Estate. She wondered how long she had been Sleeping that they could have raided so far out.

Finally, there was a light on the horizon; Nabiki hoped desperately that it was the sun rising. This long night was freaking her out.

As they neared the light, a disappointed Nabiki could tell that it was not the sun. The light was too white and too stationary on the horizon. Mitsuko, who was walking beside the cart while Kenji gave Ichigo a break on hauling it, sighed. "This night must have lasted a while if they're using the crystal."

Nabiki had slowly woken up through the walk. "Crystal? What do you mean?"

"Mmmm. The Queen's crystal--it's what makes the barrier that protects the Estate. The Queen focuses her power through it and miracles happen--but it takes a lot out of her and the more she has to use it the more it takes."

"So why would she risk the barrier just for light? Not that light isn't a good thing." Nabiki said, peering through the darkness towards the growing glow.

"She wouldn't risk the barrier!" Ichigo protested.

"Of course not. But the gardens need the sun. We can live off what we find outside, for a while. It's dangerous though and it is best to have some food of our own on the Estate. If the night has lasted too long, the Queen has to use the crystal to give light and nutrients to the gardens or they'll die. She'll stop if it starts to strain the barrier. Hopefully the sun will rise before then though." Mitsuko explained.

Nabiki processed this information as they moved steadily on. She could just barely see a high wall, right where the darkness crept up to the light. This crystal they were talking about--she wondered if it was focusing the queen's power, or if it actually was the source of the power. Could anyone use the crystal? Or was the queen manipulating the people? Armageddon was, after all, a good chance to build up your own personal fiefdom.

As the walls grew larger, Nabiki could see a few people standing behind them on what she assumed must be scaffolds. Two of them were near a reinforced gate. The group of travelers slowed to a stop in front of it. "Hey Kazaki! Welcome back!"

"Ho Tetsu! Good to be back!" The old man shouted up to the guard.

"Looks like a good haul. Who've you got there?" Nabiki wished they would just open the gate. She was tired and scared, and it was a strain to keep up her calm, confident facade.

"Some Sleepers woke up over in Nerima. Thought we'd bring them in since they were harmless. Little Kairi's sweet enough to give Harumi a toothache. And that one is Nabiki Tendo, Lady Kasumi's younger sister."

"Really? Well what you standing around there for? Come inside before something comes out and stomps you!" And with that the gate swung slowly open.

Nabiki wondered why Kasumi's name was getting such a response. Sure, she was a sweet girl, but she was just a homemaker. Not even a housewife, since she wasn't married.

The Estate more than lived up to its name. From the gate there was a long gravel driveway leading up to an impressive mansion. Outbuildings, large and small, dotted what she could see of the grounds and in one corner she could see that what must have been beautiful flower gardens had been converted to crops. There were a couple people tending them, wielding hoes and baskets of vegetables. In one corner, an old woman was teaching a small group of children how to use a pottery wheel.

A group of people trotted over and relieved Ichigo of the cart. Kenji and the boy went with them as they hauled it off while the guard from the gate helped the old man--Kazaki--and Mitsuko herd the two girls towards the main gate. They chattered lightly about their trip and gossiped about what had happened while they had been gone. Nabiki scrutinized the house, judging its state of repair and keeping an eye out for her sister.

Even so, she was somehow surprised when she finally did see Kasumi. The immaculate housekeeper was as neat as ever--but she seemed somehow prettier. Her cheeks were rosy and her eyes full of life as she hurried over and swept Nabiki up into a hug. "Oh little sister! It's so wonderful to see you here." She let Nabiki go, but kept a hand on her shoulder. "Oh my, but you are a mess. Harumi," she turned to the woman, "Please show my sister and the little one to the bath and then help them get some new clothes. I have to check on dinner and then we can work on getting them settled." She smiled sunnily and hugged Nabiki again before hurrying off. Nabiki was stunned. Her older sister Kasumi would never have handed her off to a stranger before. She would have done everything herself to make sure Nabiki was comfortable to the point of being thoroughly spoiled.

The woman Harumi had already taken Kairi by the hand and started out the door. Nabiki followed them, dazed. They walked behind the main house, to a grove of bamboo. The secluded hot spring was almost empty, with only a few women relaxing in the warm water. Nabiki stripped efficiently, eager to feel clean, and start to scrub herself thoroughly with soap she found on a small wooden bench. Harumi helped Kairi clean herself before they got into the bathing pool.

As Harumi introduced the newcomers to the other bathers, Nabiki again noticed the respect that everyone showed Kasumi. Like Kazaki at the gate, they referred to her as Lady Kasumi and their friendly welcomes became even warmer when they learned Nabiki was her sister.

"Lady Kasumi is marvel." One old woman confided to her.

"The sweetest girl I've ever met. Pure and kind as the goddess of compassion herself!" declared another.

Harumi smiled at Nabiki, who while used to hearing praises for her older sister was still slightly in shock. "The Queen and Lady Pluto use their magic to protect us from the Time and their wisdom to guide us, and my Lord uses his strength to protect us and keep order, but it is Lady Kasumi who keeps everything running smoothly around here."

"Oh yes. She makes sure meals are healthy, delicious, and on time. A miracle if there ever was one."

"And no one bothers her about chore rotations. Even the ones who would argue about doing 'dirty' work can't deny her when she looks disappointed."

"And if they do, trouble with the laundry and meals always sets them straight. Or else My Lord does. And who wants that conversation?"

It hadn't occurred to Nabiki how useful Kasumi's housekeeping skills would be in running a large estate full of people. In retrospect, it did make sense though. Not even Ranma's "friends" running wild through the dojo, breaking walls as well as everything else in sight had fazed her--and anyone who cooked three meals a day for the bottomless pits named the Saotomes could easily handle running any kitchen even for an estate this size.

Sinking back into the water as the women started to fuss over Kairi, Nabiki thought about the organization Harumi had vaguely outlined and compared it with what she had learned from her conversations on the road. The Queen was Sailor Moon--and this Lady Pluto must be Sailor Pluto--and they were in charge because they had magic which was necessary for everyone's survival. Kasumi was respected as a leader because of her skills and sweet nature. Then there was this lord--who Ichigo had called the Queen's Knight. Ichigo had said he protected the Estate from outside dangers--so he must know how to fight. Harumi said he kept order and that he "talked" to people who weren't behaving--so he was the force behind the law. No one was using his name at all--and there was a bit of awe when they talked about him just as there was when they mentioned the Queen--as if he was a legendary figure. She would have to be careful of him.

After the bath, Harumi did find Nabiki and Kairi clean clothes. Nabiki was happy to have something less itchy than her dirty school uniform but she found she was reluctant to give up the familiar garment. It reminded her of the sane world she had grown up in which seemed further and further away with each bit of strangeness she ran into. Finally she decided that the advantage of looking presentable was worth the loss of the reminder. Nabiki was always practical and if this was the world she had to live in, she would turn her attention to making the present comfortable and the future even better.

Meals, she learned, were split into shifts, like bathing and everything else on the Estate. There were enough people to make anything else too awkward and unwieldy. Everyone had chore rotations--laundry, kitchen, guard duty, and so on and so on. The only thing that could get you out of rotation was having a special skill that was necessary--like carpentry, pottery or sewing skills, or being on one of the foraging crews. Even the Queen's Knight did some rotations, making sure everything was working well. Nabiki mentally filed through her skill set, wondering if there wasn't something that could get her out of the more menial tasks. Money wasn't of any use here and she doubted that running betting pools would get her out of chores anyways. Maybe she could get involved in organization? Those supplies they had picked up had to be distributed somehow.

Dinner, while not quite up to Kasumi's usual standard, definitely showed her influence. Kasumi ducked in quickly to fuss over Nabiki--which made her feel much more at home--but was soon dragged away by a problem with the laundry. It was Harumi who took Nabiki and Kairi to meet the Queen and her Knight. "Normally we'd do this first thing," she explained. "But with the extra demands on the crystal and some trouble we had with raiders yesterday, everyone's been very busy. And with Lady Kasumi vouching for you it wasn't as much of a priority."

"Will they make us leave?" Asked the normally quiet Kairi in a small voice. She sounded as scared as Nabiki was starting to feel again.

"No! They meet everyone--to make sure no one bad can hurt us. They'll ask you a few questions, and then they'll assign you to a group--you'll share rotations and sleeping quarters with your group. It's nothing to worry about sweetie, they're both very nice." Harumi stopped and hugged the little girl before continuing up the stairs. The Queen's room was the highest room in the house, overlooking the entire estate.

The room itself was large with a comfortable-looking futon strewn with pillows in the middle of the floor. In front of the futon were an enormous open window and a brightly glowing crystal floating above the sill. A woman stood near the crystal in an elegant white dress. Her shining blonde hair fell to the floor and her clear blue eyes seemed to pierce through to Nabiki's soul. There was no question that this was the Queen.

"There's only a short time before she needs to go back to the crystal. Set-chan's extra energy'll hold it up for a while but standing in for the sun pulls a lot out of 'em." The man's voice was familiar, though deeper and steadier than Nabiki remembered.

"Hey Nabiki. Good to see ya." Said Ranma Saotome, Queen's Knight.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: UNBETA'D.  
I own nothing. Recognizable characters and events belong to other people. Together with the original characters and events, they collectively own my soul.

This is a companion piece to Times Storms: Ranma's Story. They should be more or less self-contained even though they are obviously intertwined. I do not plan on any other separate stories in this universe, but you never know. Other people's perspectives will be contained within these two stories.

Warning: In later chapters this fic will contain shojo-ai (femslash) and possibly shonen-ai (slash).

Nabiki felt her emotional walls strain and crack. The continuing nightmare she was in, the surprise at her own sister being too busy to help her, and the shock at finding Ranma, jock extraordinaire, as one of a revered governing force of humanity's last refuge left her dazed. Moreover, there was something in the room that made her feel like a little girl safe in her mother's embrace. She was aware enough not to trust it, but it was hard to fight against. Later, she decided that it must be some magic the Queen used. With her weakened emotional state and powerful magic like that, it was no wonder that even Nabiki was docile.

She stood quietly by while the Queen and Ranma spoke to Kairi. They were kind and reassuring to the little girl, promising that she would be safe on the Estate.

"Ya'll have some chores to do a'course. Everyone's got to help." Ranma said, looking at Kairi and Nabiki in turn.

Kairi looked worried. "I don't mind. But what about school? My mommy said school was more important than anything!"

The Queen nodded, smiling gently. "Moms are like that, aren't they? Don't worry. We don't have the kind of school you're used to, but we do have people who will help teach you reading, math, and a lot of history. We'll make sure your mom is proud of you."

Kairi burst into tears, probably at the thought of her mother, mused Nabiki, and Harumi bustled over to comfort the child. Ranma walked over to the woman as she hugged the sobbing girl into her skirts. "You just take care of her now, alright? Kasumi'll want ta take care of her sis when we're done."

Nabiki, still dazed, stood quietly while Harumi and Kairi left the room and the full attention of Ranma and his Queen turned to her. She was more relaxed than she ever remembered being, but part of her was screaming that she needed to be on top of her game now.

"So, Nabiki." Ranma strolled over to her. He still walked with that unconscious grace that all the martial artists in Nerima had. Somehow it felt more predatory though. He stopped in front of her and looked her over curiously. "Well, you don't look too bad. Didn't run into anything nasty before they picked you up, I guess."

"I'm glad you woke up." It was the Queen who broke the tense atmosphere. "Kasumi misses her family so much. And Ranma too!" She brushed past Ranma and threw her arms around Nabiki. "I've heard so much about you from them. You're so amazing! Helping your family like that when you were just a kid! I wish I was as good at math as you. It's just so hard!" Nabiki blinked at the pouting face in front of her. What had happened to the serene, regal woman she had seen just a moment before? Where had this babbling teenage girl come from?

Ranma chuckled. "Yeah, yeah. It's good to see ya, Nabiki. Me 'n' Kasumi are the only ones of the old crowd here. So far, anyways. Good thing there's a shortcut to Nerima. Makes it easier to check on people."

"A shortcut?" Nabiki asked. The Queen had let go of Nabiki and she was gratefully taking a deep breath. She felt off balance and had to work to concentrate on what Ranma was saying.

"Yeah. Nerima's actually pretty far from here but the Time seems to change distances a bit too. Some of the shortcuts are pretty dangerous, but a couple of them seem stable. Old Kazuki is really good at sensing them and telling when they're gonna change, so he and his crew use them a fair bit."The Queen frowned at Ranma while Nabiki tried to fit this information into her understanding of the new world. Maybe it would make more sense if she asked Kazuki to explain. He was a little gruff and not exceptionally friendly but he had definitely seemed competent and sure of what he was doing.

"You're going to confuse her! I barely even know what you're talking about and I have to listen to all those reports you make them give you. It's like sitting through school all over again." The Queen was whining now, her voice hitting the same maddening pitch as a mosquito buzzing in Nabiki's ear. This was who was in charge of the Estate? This whining, babbling girl was the goddess-like being spoken so reverently of by the  
women in the baths?

"Oh!" The Queen's pout changed to a look of vexation. "It's time for me to go back to the crystal now--Setsuna is wearing out. I do wish it would stop being night. It takes so much energy to send out light like the sun's. It was so wonderful to meet you Nabiki. I'm very sure that you'll be happy here." Smiling at Nabiki, she moved over to the window, her white gown bellowing around her legs. The teenager was gone and the magical Queen had returned--every movement she made was filled with such grace that it left Nabiki it awe. She fought against the feeling as the Queen cupped the glowing crystal in her hands. The light from the crystal brightened with a purity and power that almost blinded Nabiki. As she flinched away from it, she felt the feeling of calmness and security that had surrounded her intensify and then fade.

"Set-chan can support the crystal from her mirror for a while, but it's nothing compared ta when Usagi holds it." Ranma's voice was deeper than Nabiki remembered and more confident. Without the overwhelming presence of the Queen blanketing her mind, she found it easier to catalog the changes in him. He looked older, she thought, a man instead of the teenage boy she remembered dominating and extorting money and pictures out of. He had always been confident, but somehow he seemed much more capable now. There  
was something about the firmness of his expression and the way he held himself that said he was in control of himself mentally as well as physically. And now he was in charge of this Estate; in charge of her fate. Nabiki shuddered.

Ranma grinned at her suddenly. His face, no longer boyishly cute, had become devastatingly handsome. "I figure you won't like not being in charge." It was a much more astute statement than Nabiki was used to hearing from Ranma. That did not comfort her in the slightest. "So probably you'll try and fix that pretty quickly. Look, don't worry too much. Usagi's got a lot of power, yeah, but she's too nice to use it except to protect people."

"You seem to have quite a bit of power yourself, oh mystical Lord Knight." Nabiki collected herself. This was still Ranma--she could deal with him easily. Even if he had changed a bit; she was Nabiki, Ice Queen of Nerima, and she could deal with any madness the world threw at her.

Ranma blushed and rubbed the back of his head nervously. Nabiki felt a surge of relief rush through her. He hadn't changed that much. "Yeah, well. They do call me that. It's pretty weird. And it's all Hitomi's fault too!" His eyebrows clenched together in frustration. Then his face smoothed out and his hand fell down to his side. "Look, the thing is though, I do have some power, like you say. But it's not that much really.  
Usagi and Set-chan keep a handle on the magical shit and people listen to them when they around to talk 'cause of that. Kasumi and Harumi run a lot of the household stuff and Hitomi manages a lot of the other stuff like assigning chore rotations and doing inventory and all that. Mostly I'm just in charge of security. I run the guards and the foraging crews and break up any fights or whatever."

Remembering the woman who had told her that the Lord Knight "talked" to anyone who gave Kasumi trouble, Nabiki was sure Ranma had more power on the Estate than he was admitting. Knowing Ranma, he probably had more power than he realized. She smirked at him. She could use this.

Ranma blinked at her then narrowed his eyes. "You can't go on like you did, Nabiki. No black-mailing, no little games manipulating people. You make too many enemies on the Estate and they'll want ta kick you out. You were lucky coming in. Kazuki picked you up and he knows that short-cut better than anyone. He kept you safe and away from the really weird shit. If you get exiled out of here, you won't get a second chance."

"You wouldn't throw me out!" Nabiki said confidently. Mr. "I don't hit girls" wouldn't even defend himself against a proven warrior like Shan Pu. He'd never send a defenseless girl out into that mess.

"I wouldn't want to. And Kasumi neither. But if you cause too much trouble we won't have a choice. This is the survival of the human race here. There ain't a lot of room on the Estate and there are more people all the time. We can't afford troublemakers. You can do fine without all that shit anyways. You're smart and you're good with numbers. I'm sure you'll find a place pretty quick and get lots people rushing around to do what you want them to. All I'm saying is be careful about who you make enemies with. You  
can't afford too many of them and I can't protect you if you go too far."

This, on top of that weirdness and insanity of everything that had happened since she "woke up" the day before, shattered some of Nabiki's usual iron-tight control. She stood rigid, her fists clenched, and glared at him. She could feel her heart beating faster, filling up with fear and she pushed it under a rising tide of anger. Ranma was actually threatening her!

He sighed. "I warned you, okay? Kasumi'll be up in a minute to take you to where you can sleep. Tomorrow at breakfast you'll have to swear that you'll follow the Queen and that you won't cause any trouble. Hitomi'll assign you to a chore rotation and that'll be that. Welcome to the Estate." With that, he opened the door and waited for her to leave. As Nabiki stormed out, she almost ran into Kasumi.

"Oh! Nabiki-chan! Are you alright?" Kasumi asked worriedly. Nabiki tried to relax. Anger was good--definitely better than fear--but she couldn't let it master her. She had to be in control of herself before she could control anything else. She forced herself to take some deep breaths.

"She's fine, Kasumi. I'm standing watch with Usagi till Jiro's done with dinner. Get a good night's sleep, huh? I'll see ya next shift." Ranma closed the door again, leaving Nabiki and Kasumi alone in the hallway.

Nabiki followed Kasumi down the stairs and through a darkened hallway. She barely paid any attention to her surroundings, only absently noting turns so that she wouldn't get lost later. Her mind was fully occupied with analyzing what had just happened. Ranma had changed more than she could have imagined—not only had he grown up and become more confident and capable, he had actually threatened her! Ranma, who had always said that a martial artist's duty was to protect the weak, had threatened her. Of course, he called it a warning and she knew that he probably thought of it as such. She swung back and forth between anger and understanding. He had scared her and she wanted to hate him for that; but then, if he really was running a mini-government here, he needed to. It was good that the people in charge were capable of taking charge, she knew. A weak structure, even on such a small scale, couldn't last. If this really was humanity's last  
hope then they couldn't afford for it to collapse. Still, Ranma had threatened her and she couldn't let that stand. She needed to find a way to get some control of the situation. Blackmailing him would be too risky though. She had already seen how much the people of the Estate supported their "Lord Knight." Still, she was Nabiki Tendo and she'd find some way.

"I thought you could stay with me." Kasumi's sweet voice interrupted Nabiki's plotting. "Most people stay in dormitories of course. We don't have enough room for everyone, so only a few of us stay in the main house. Ranma stays with Her Majesty upstairs and Lady Setsuna is up there as well. Harumi and Hitomi share a room just down the hall, near the store rooms. It doesn't seem quite fair that I have a room to myself, but everyone tells me that they don't mind."

Kasumi's position in the structure of the Estate would certainly benefit Nabiki; she would have hated staying in a dormitory. Privacy had almost extremely important to the middle Tendo daughter--possibly because she knew how easily it could be violated.

The room Kasumi showed Nabiki was very nice. It would quite comfortably fit both of them and it was decorated beautifully in a traditional Japanese style. There were even two futons already laid out. Nabiki felt a pang of longing for her western-style bed and a sudden rush of homesickness threatened to swamp her with tears. She ruthlessly choked it back. What was, was; there could be no changing something as powerful as this "Time."  
Not right away, anyways. She needed to distract herself somehow; preferably while getting some more information. "So, big sister. When'd you get here?" 

"Hmm?" While Nabiki had surveyed the room, Kasumi had moved over to a window-box garden near one of the futons. She was fussing over the small sprouts and not looking at her sister at all.

Nabiki wasn't going to let her sister get out of this. She knew perfectly well that Kasumi wasn't nearly as oblivious as she pretended to be. She crossed her arms and stared at her older sister. "Well, you've obviously been here a while. You and Ranma are both very settled into the governing structure and everyone knows you and respects you. Did you get here at the same time?"

"Oh." Kasumi focused on the dirt under her hands, smoothing it down around the small plants. "No. Ranma has been here the longest, other than Her Majesty and Lady Setsuna. Hitomi's been here for a long time too. And Jiro. Why, I've really only been here a year or so. I think. It's hard to tell."

A year or so! Nabiki's arms fell apart and hung limp against her sides. Just the day before, she had been sitting down to one of Kasumi's breakfasts. Now Kasumi was saying it had been a year since she had seen Nabiki. And Ranma had been here longer than that? "If you didn't come with Ranma, does that mean you were asleep too? How did you get here, then?" Maybe the old man's crew had picked her up as well? Nabiki desperately hoped so. Ranma's words from earlier were echoing through her mind--"Didn't run into anything nasty before they picked you up, I guess."

"I…" Kasumi tore some seedlings out of the box. She frowned down at the forlorn plants in her hand and dropped them back onto the dirt. Then she moved away from the small window garden and sat on the floor, her legs folded under her. She still didn't look at Nabiki. "Ranma came. I was…was in the house and he brought me back to the Estate."Nabiki was worried. Something was very wrong with her sister. Kasumi was supposed to be cheerful and little ditzy; she didn't destroy innocent plants and act evasive. That just wasn't right; but she couldn't imagine what Kasumi could have seen that would make her act like this. "Kasumi? What's wrong?" Nabiki remembered suddenly how she had woken up—with part of her family frozen like statues and part of her family missing. She had been lucky—the foraging crew had passed by almost as soon as she woke up. "How long did it take Ranma to come?"

Kasumi's hands were twisted in her skirt, her knuckles shining as white as small moons. "I don't know." She paused, looking down. Nabiki's heart twisted in her chest as she watched her perfect older sister curl up into herself like a wounded animal. "They call it Waking Up. It was nothing like that. One minute I was serving breakfast and listening to Ranma and Akane play together, and the next minute everything was quiet and I couldn't move. I...I thought it must have been Ranma's friends: one of them must have found some spell or triggered a curse. Or it was another kidnapping attempt or a long-lost martial arts move. I kept waiting for Grandfather Happosai or Elder Ku Lon to come and make it stop. I kept waiting for someone to come fix things."

Nabiki hurried over to where Kasumi was sitting, sank down by her sister, and hugged her. She remembered the agonizing slowness of trying to move when she just woke up. The thought of Kasumi being trapped like that, a prisoner in her own body, for any amount of time was horrifying.

"No one came though. Nothing changed, nothing was fixed. Everything was so still...I suppose I must have fainted. When I woke up, I was lying on the floor. I was a complete mess, my skirt all twisted and my hair snarled, but I was so relieved that whatever had been wrong was better." She sobbed, a small choked noise, and continued staring down at her blood-less hands. Nabiki tightened her arms around Kasumi's torso.

"It wasn't better though. Nobody was moving at all, and Ranma was gone. I was all alone...I thought God was punishing me. Like when Mother died." Nabiki could barely hear her, Kasumi was speaking so quietly.

Nabiki sat on the floor, holding on to her sister. Since the moment she had been found by the foraging crew, she hadn't allowed any thoughts of her family or her home to reach her. She had choked off all feelings of sadness or fear, masking them with plans and anger. Now, she could feel the terror and grief that overwhelmed her sister threatening her. She couldn't afford to lose herself. She needed to make a place for herself on this Estate. She needed to be there for her sister. Besides, she had woken up. There was still a chance for Dad and Akane. She buried her head in Kasumi's shoulder, her arms now clutching her older sister as much as attempting to comfort.

Eventually, Kasumi stopped crying and turned in her sister's embrace. She had spent most of her life ignoring her own problems in order to take care of her sisters. Those instincts had a firm hold on her. Kasumi let go of her death-grip on her skirt and wrapped her arms around Nabiki, her hands gently petting her short hair and down her back as she cradled her younger sister against her. "I don't know how long it took, but he came eventually. Ranma saved me. He brought me here. And now, little sister, you are here too. We are alright. The Queen can keep out the madness. We're safe. Ranma will protect us. And we're needed. There's so much that needs to be done here, we won't even have time to feel sad. Eventually Father and Akane will wake up and they'll come to. We have to make sure everything is in good order for them."

That night, Kasumi and Nabiki shared a futon, not bothering to change out of their clothes. They slept holding on to each other, tears washing down their faces.Kasumi woke up early; at least, Nabiki assumed it was early. It was still dark and the light from the crystal had dimmed to twilight. There were no clocks in the room, although Nabiki could hear the occasional thunk of bamboo against stone that heralded an old-fashioned water clock. With nothing to tell her what time it actually was, Nabiki simply trusted her older sister's internal clock. Kasumi had always gotten up before everyone else in the Tendo house in order to start breakfast.

As she smoothed down her clothes and hair, Nabiki considered this new dilemma. Time-keeping had been pretty easy in the old world. Night followed day as the earth's rotation shifted the position of the sun in the sky. Weather followed more or less predictable patterns according to the seasons and technology had allowed everyone across the planet to agree on a certain measurement of time that was consistent.How would things work here? If time moved differently in different places, if the sun could refuse to rise for days on end, then how could anyone measure time effectively? Since her arrival, Nabiki hadn't seen any mechanical clocks or calendars. The only evidence of any kind of time-keeping was the distant sound of the water-clock.

People had managed in ancient times without clocks--but then they had had the regularity of nature to keep them to some kind of pattern of time. The modern world had run efficiently on detailed measurements--connected by satellites and computers precise enough to count nano-seconds.

As Kasumi led the way to a wash room, Nabiki thought about that. Were the satellites in orbit around the earth affected by this disaster as well? Did it cover the entire planet, or was it only Japan, or even only Tokyo?

She absent-mindedly scrubbed her face and hands. Normally she would relax into a hot bath now, but there was no water in the furo. She wondered if the communal bathing house she had visited the day before would be open.

"The baths are open in shifts. We have limited electricity since Ranma and the foraging crews found some generators, but we try not to waste too much heating water." Kasumi explained in answer to Nabiki's question. "Everyone gets one bath a day--before bed, so that they don't get the dirt from the day over their bedding and it doesn't have to be washed as much." Nabiki frowned unhappily. It made sense but she still wished she could have a bath right then. Her neck and back ached from sleeping on the unfamiliar  
futon.

Kasumi showed Nabiki to a hall across the garden patch from the main house. There were still people moving around, weeding the beds, working on a frame structure near the wall, and carrying water and bundles Nabiki couldn't identify back and forth. It was as busy as when she had first arrived, even it felt like early morning.

The hall was full of long tables and benches, with a serving table crowded against one door. People were sitting down in small groups, talking animatedly, or were sitting alone looking half asleep. Kasumi was greeted warmly by the people there and she disappeared outside as soon as Nabiki found a place to sit down. Mitsuko sat down next to her while she was wondering what to do.

"They'll start serving soon. We're the first breakfast rotation, so it takes them some time to get the food out." She smiled warmly at Nabiki.

"The first?"

"Oh yes. There are shifts for everything--meals, chores, and baths, even sleeping. There's always some group awake and there's always some group asleep. It works out. Oh look--there's the food!"

Everyone got up and formed a line in front of the serving table as people came in bearing large bowls and covered platters. Nabiki followed Mitsuko.

When they sat back down again, there were suddenly more people sitting with them—one of whom was Ichigo. He reminded Nabiki of a puppy, he was so bouncy and happy to see her. He had seemed a little more serious and mature outside the Estate; she supposed he must feel safer here. That was good. Mitsuko introduced Nabiki to the others. There was Yoritomi, a middle-aged carpenter--he was beginning to lose the hair over his weathered face. Then there was an old woman Nabiki vaguely remembered seeing in the baths the night before—Asuka.

Breakfast was filling, if not particularly inspiring. As they ate, Nabiki brought up her questions about keeping track of time. Mitsuko and Yoritomi handled most of the explanations while Ichigo devoted his full attention to his food. Asuka stayed fairly quiet.

The only mechanical clocks people had found didn't work. They seemed more vulnerable to Time Storms than anything else, running at different rates even when they were on the Estate, protecting from the major changes. Simple water clocks did work relatively well, although sundials were obviously completely useless.

"The sun seems to be the worst affected. We simply can't trust it anymore." Mitsuko said matter-of-factly.

"Right you are, Mitsuko. It goes too fast or too slow, it stays around for days and then don't show up for even longer. Why, when I was still wandering outside I even saw it run backwards!" Yoritomi grinned at Ichigo, who had looked up from his food in awe.

Ichigo's mouth hung open and his eyes were wide and guileless. "Really? I've never seen that!"

Yoritomi's grin widened. "Sure. Damn—excuse me ladies—darn thing went west to east just like that."

A loud snort echoed over the table, attracting a few stares from other parts of the room. Asuka glared at the carpenter. "Don't be ridiculous. You were most likely so turned around that you didn't know which way was east and which was west."

"Now don't be like that, auntie. I'm not stupid, you know. I didn't say it rose in the west and went down in the east—naw. It rose like normal, got about to the middle of the sky, then reversed directions and went right back the way it came."

Nabiki decided that it was time to change the subject. There was a question that had been nagging her from the moment she met the group outside her home, but she had been too busy trying to assimilate everything that was happening to ask it. "What is the Time?"

The table fell quiet. Yoritomi's laughter stilled while Asuka's frown deepened.

"No one knows." Mitsuko explained gently. "Everyone has their own ideas of course, but the truth is that we really have no way of knowing."

There were another few moments of silence. Ichigo pushed his bowl across the table, and then leaned in towards Nabiki conspiratorially. "I think it was aliens. They used some kind of ray or something to mess us up so when they come we can't fight them." He winked at her.

Three snorts heralded his pronouncement. Yoritomi shook his head at the teenagers. "No, no. What use would a world where time doesn't work be to aliens? No, it was a human mistake." Ichigo was muttering under his breath—"If aliens caused it then they could fix it when they decided we were cowed enough." Yoritomi ignored him and continued on with his own theory. "The United States was working on some super weapon so they could be the most powerful nation in the world and it blew up in their faces and took the rest of us down with them."

"Hmmph." Asuka frowned disapprovingly at him. "People couldn't do this. We're not smart enough." This time Yoritomi was the one muttering under his breath. Asuka ignored him as thoroughly as he had ignored Ichigo. "No, this disaster is punishment from the gods. Only they have the power to control time and they have passed judgment on us."

Nabiki could feel the beginnings of a serious headache threatening. If no one knew what had caused this Time Storm phenomenon, then there was no hope of fixing it. She resisted rubbing her hand over her forehead.

The chattering of various groups in the dining hall suddenly died away. Even the clinks of utensils against bowls had quieted. Nabiki looked up and saw Ranma standing in the doorway. Silhouetted against the strange glow of the Queen's crystal, he was an impressive figure. Nabiki had convinced her self that, surprised and confused, she had exaggerated some of the changes she had seen in him the night before. Now, however, she could see little of the naïve, weak-minded boy she had known. The man before her was a true samurai, the acknowledged lord-protector of the Estate, the Queen's Knight. Everything about him, his posture, his set face, and the confident expectation that everyone would listen to him, screamed of power and control. The effect was further heightened by the deference everyone in the room was showing him.

"Two new Sleepers have joined us, brought by Kazuki's crew out of the Time and into the safety of the Estate." His voice was strong and clear with no hints of Ranma's old brashness or inexperience in talking to groups. "Tendo Nabiki, Asagiri Kairi, stand." Mitsuko and Ichigo pushed at Nabiki's elbows until she reluctantly stood. On the other side of the room, she saw Harumi helping the little girl to stand up.

"This Estate is our haven, the only truly safe place for what is left of humanity to live and grow. As long as you obey our laws and work towards the safety and well-being of this community, you will be taken care of. Swear now to honor the people of this Estate and the Queen, who has given herself to our protection, or leave and never return. Swear to follow the Queen's laws or forgo her benevolence and protection forever." His expression was implacable, a stone carving showing neither compassion nor mercy.

Nabiki shivered. She had always prided herself on keeping her word—even though she usually made sure that whatever she promised had enough loopholes that she was never actually tied to anything. This time though, she had a feeling that it wouldn't be enough to keep to the letter of this oath. If she violated the spirit of the Estate, she would find no mercy in these people, nor in Ranma who had time and again protected her family. Seeing Kasumi standing near the food table, her face solemn and still, Nabiki wondered if even her own older sister would protect her if she betrayed this vow.

"I swear."


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: UNBETA'D.  
I own nothing. Recognizable characters and events belong to other people. Together with the original characters and events, they collectively own my soul.

"I think we're all dead, really. This is purgatory or some such."

"Oh, don't be ridiculous."

"No, see, it makes sense. Time doesn't have any meaning in the land of the dead—that's why ghosts never get over old grudges."

"So all those Sleepers are what? Actually alive?"

"OK, that's creepy, stop talking about it now. Look, I heard that the universe is constantly expanding. Maybe we moved into some weird part of the universe. Or we're on the edge of reality and we have to wait for the rest of it to catch up."

"Well _I _heard that someone was trying to make the most accurate clock in the universe and it broke time."

"How would measuring time break it?"

"It's quantum, right? The little bits of the universe don't like to be looked at so if you get too close they change. Well, someone got to looking to closely at time and so it changed itself round."

As breakfast finished up and people started drifting off in groups towards their assigned work, Nabiki found that Mitsuko was right. Everyone had their own pet theory on what had caused the Time storms. A couple of people had expressed support for Ichigo's alien idea—they were the most optimistic group. Aliens seemed more likely to be capable fixing the problem than humanity; assuming the entire human race really was stuck in the Time.

That was another question that no one seemed to have a definite answer to. How large an area was the Time affecting? A few people on the Estate had traveled pretty far—but for the most part they only had proof that the Time extended across Tokyo and a few days travel beyond. Television sets only produced static. Radios worked occasionally—but they seemed mostly to pull stations and communications from World War II. The Estate didn't have a working telephone and the few times someone had tried one outside—either before they got to the Estate or on a foraging expedition—it either hadn't worked or the line had simply rung without answer until they hung up. There was no contact with the outside world short of traveling to it—and no one was willing to risk that chaos for what could be a futile hope.

Nabiki didn't participate much in the conversations around her. Instead, she sat back and listened closely. Even if there was no answer for what was happening, she could tell a lot about a person by their theories. Some felt that the entire world had to be engulfed by the Time—otherwise a rescue mission would have saved them all. Others wanted desperately to believe that it was localized and that everyone else was safe. Some people thought of the Time as a punishment—either divinely inspired or natural consequences to people's arrogance—while others thought of it as a random occurrence. Every idea, every voice of hope or despair, told her a little bit about how to persuade and control the people here if she ever needed their support.

For the most part, the conversations had the ring of well-traveled trails of thought. They were conversations people had had before and arguments that everyone knew by heart.

As the people left, heading out to the gardens or other work areas, Nabiki sat and thought. Without any real ideas about what was happening or why it had happened, it seemed people were concentrating on the short game. Survival came first. People were focusing on food, shelter and getting along with everyone else. Everything _looked_ well organized and managed. But there were hints at problems—Ranma's speeches the night before and again this morning told her that they had had enough troublemakers that they had had to come up with a set of rules for dealing with them. And the Estate, large as it was, could only hold so many people. How long would it be before they had to start turning people away from the safety provided by the Estate's walls?

Nabiki had sworn to follow the "Queen's laws" without a detailed list of exactly what those laws were. It was unlike her, she knew, but what other choice did she have? This place and these people were the only things between her and complete and utter chaos. Nabiki only liked chaos when she had control of it.

She continued to wait in the dining hall as everyone else headed out to their work assignment. Kasumi was still busy in the kitchens, supervising clean-up and the preparations for the next meal rotation and since she was Nabiki's guide, Nabiki was free until she was done. Nabiki moved to the door and looked out at the busy Estate. Across the way she could see Yoritomi inspecting the skeleton of a small shed. She wondered where they were getting the wood for building. Was there someone outside cutting down trees in the overgrown lots or were they scavenging old houses for posts and beams free of rot? She pushed that distracting question away.

Nabiki had a fair idea of what would happen next. Kasumi would introduce her to some group and she'd be put to work washing clothes or hoeing vegetables. She'd work, eat, bathe, sleep, and wake up again to the same. She'd go crazy—and not just because she preferred intellectual labor to manual. With all their industriousness, all these people were really doing was surviving. It was subsistence labor, no more, no less. And it wasn't enough.

What would happen when the Estate did run out of space, or food, or fresh water? It couldn't last forever, especially with more people continuing to trickle in. Did they have some plan in place? Neither Ranma nor Kasumi had ever been the types to think too much ahead. They were the types that buckled down and dealt with the present. Very useful, especially when your main concern is survival from moment to moment, but not good enough for something like this. Someone had to really start thinking of the future—and the bubbling teenage girl that the Queen was when she wasn't busy with the crystal didn't seem like the type either.

There were other possibilities though. Ranma had mentioned a couple of people who helped Kasumi and one person who was in charge of inventory and supplies—Harumi? Hitokiri? Hitomi? Something like that anyways—that person might be more forward thinking. And there was someone else. Someone with a similar power to the Queen who helped maintain the magic protecting the Estate. Ranma had called her...Set-chan. Searching her memories of the night before, Nabiki remembered a woman in the bathes talking about Lady Pluto doing something similar. Were Lady Pluto and Set-chan the same person? Nabiki hadn't paid much attention to the Sailor Scouts—they were notoriously unavailable for marketing campaigns and nobody ever bet against them. It was much easier and more profitable to focus on the Nerima Wrecking Crew.

"I'm sorry Nabiki. I didn't mean to take so long, but Emi is still learning how to use the sun oven." Nabiki refocused her attention to her sister as Kasumi walked out of the kitchen, cleaning her hands on her apron.

"A sun oven? Is that high tech or low tech?" She had been interested in solar technology before—Nabiki always made sure to stay aware of new technologies especially if they seemed promisingly lucrative. Still, Nabiki could see the darkness lying outside the Estate's wall, a looming blackness pushing against the safety promised within. She shivered and turned back to Kasumi's smile. "Can you really use it with this weird light?"

"Oh, it's brand-new. 'High tech', I suppose. We only have one—and a stove we can use generators for but we don't like to use that too often. Mostly we use firepits and clay ovens. The sun oven is nice though and it's very reliable." Kasumi led Nabiki past the gardens and back towards the main house. A few people in the fields waved to Nabiki--she recognized them vaguely from breakfast and waved back. "The Crystal 's light acts just like the sun. Mariko used to be a scientist—she says it has the same spectrum? I'm afraid I didn't understand much of it, although it was very nice of her to try to explain it. In any case, neither the solar machines nor the plants seem to notice any difference."

"Hmmm. Does this happen often then? The sun doesn't come up?" Nabiki managed to control her shudder at that possibility. She was trying to avoid looking at the horizon—the darkness outside the walls seemed more threatening every time she looked at it.

"Not really. Only every few months or so. It is just that it lasts a very long time when it does happen." Kasumi sighed, her happy mask dropping for a moment. "It is so hard on Her Majesty when it does happen. And everyone gets a bit grumpy. Ranma seems to have sort out almost as many fights at times like these as he does when there is a big snowstorm."

"Huh. And every time it happens, the Queen makes that crystal shine like the sun?" Nabiki wondered how much power that took—the light didn't stretch beyond the Estate's walls and there were lamps that could mimic the spectrum of the sun. Was the Queen really as powerful as everyone seemed to think? Of course, she was keeping up a shield against the Time as well. Or so she said. And Ranma said. Ranma, who had threatened to throw Nabiki out into the cold, cruel, chaotic world. Nabiki carefully tucked that line of thought away. The risk seemed greater than the possible rewards, for the moment.

While Nabiki had been pursuing thoughts of usurpation, a part of her had continued listening as her sister spoke about the last few times that the Queen had created light with the Crystal . Apparently, she turned the light off during the "night." That made sense—the plants would be used to a certain amount of darkness as well and it would probably make things easier on the Queen.

That conversation lasted through the hallways of the main building. They passed a few rooms where people were sorting through clothing—Nabiki thought she recognized a few pieces from the cart that Kazaki's group had brought back. From what she could tell, most the rooms in the main building were being used as storehouses. Every once in a while, she saw a guard standing at attention or patrolling through the halls. Kasumi had said that only a few people slept in this house—and they were all names Nabiki remembered as being in charge of things. They were keeping all the important members of the "government" and all the goods brought in from outside in one place then—probably as a security precaution. If they had to post guards, better to concentrate the loyal ones in one area. So they _were_ concerned about threats within the compound.

Kasumi had told Nabiki earlier that the woman in charge of the stores—what was her name? Nabiki was furious at herself for forgetting it so easily. Stress and shock was no excuse for missing something important like that—was also the person who assigned duty groups.

They paused at a room filled with cans of food. Two women were sorting through a few boxes scattered around the floor and a guard stood at the door. "Oh, good morning Tetsu," Kasumi smiled. "Have you seen Hitomi anywhere?"

It was Hitomi then. Nabiki was glad she hadn't had to ask—she'd hate to let even her dear, oblivious sister know how much she had slipped. The guard Tetsu—Nabiki vaguely thought she recognized him—smiled back at Kasumi. "Surely have, Lady Kasumi. She's been running around organizing that shipment from yesterday. Think she's in sundries. They brought in a lot of pretty things, that crew." He winked at Nabiki and grinned.

Kasumi thanked him and led Nabiki down another hallway. The building didn't seem that big from the outside, but Nabiki was almost lost in the meandering corridors and small rooms that comprised the insides. She concentrated on memorizing the twists and turns and placing them in relation to the room she shared with Kasumi. She refused to let her disadvantages in this place grow any larger.

Finally they found the woman Hitomi—not with the soaps and ribbons in sundries, but in a room dedicated to seed packets and cuttings. She was a fairly plain woman, thought Nabiki. Her long black hair was twisted up into a severe bun, her clothes were clean and ironed, and her face was unremarkable. She was neither tall nor short and looked to be only a little older than Kasumi. If Nabiki had seen her on a train or in the streets, her eyes would have passed over the woman without pausing. Here though, she was one of the leaders of the Estate. Holding a clipboard and pencil, issuing orders to the two men sorting through a box of seeds, she looked a model of efficient management.

"Kasumi, I'm glad you're here. We're sorting through seeds for next season and we'd like the kitchen's input. When you have some time, please coordinate with Haru." One of the men sorting through the seeds grinned and winked one of his large brown eyes at the two sisters. Hitomi, busily scribbling something on her clipboard, didn't notice. "This must be your sister, Nabiki. I'll take care of her in a minute, just let me finish recording this bunch."

When she was done writing, the woman handed her clipboard and pen to the man Haru. She gave Nabiki a measuring look then smiled at Kasumi. "Well then, let's head to my office."

"I will see you later, Nabiki. Don't worry, Hitomi will take good care of you." Kasumi smiled reassuringly at her sister and then turned to Haru and started talking about vegetables.

Hitomi led Nabiki down yet another hallway. "I've heard a lot about you, from Kasumi and Ranma." Nabiki noticed that the woman wasn't using the more respectful honorifics that most of the people on the Estate were attached to. "Based on what I've been told, it would be a waste to put you in the kitchens or out in the fields." She stepped into a small room dominated by a desk and filing cabinet. In the corner, Nabiki could see a futon rolled up with blankets folded on top of it.

Hitomi pulled her chair away from the desk and set it next to another chair. She sank the chair with a sigh and then gestured for Nabiki to sit down as well. "You're intelligent and observant, so I'm sure you've got some idea about how this all works already. Queen Usagi is too busy with her magic to do much governing, although lately, with Lady Setsuna's help, she had been able to attend meetings and give some input into decisions. She also helps Ranma judge any disputes or crimes that might happen. Ranma runs the guards and the foraging crews—he trains them personally and I help him set up schedules. He's the enforcement and security branch of our little nation and his right hand is Fujiwara Jiro. Kasumi's in charge of most of the household related chores. She runs the kitchens, the cleaning crews, the bathes, the dormitories, and the small medical office. Harumi helps her."

This was mostly information Nabiki had heard before and she was sure Hitomi knew that. Where was the woman going with this?

"Most of the rest of the people are assigned to rotations with two or three different jobs to do. Spend half the day in the kitchens and half cleaning or working in the gardens. Someone skilled enough might just stick with one job—Haru's pretty much taken over managing the gardens. My job is to make sure everything runs smoothly and that Ranma hears of any potential problems. I keep the inventory up to date, consolidate the requests for items from every department and get them to the foraging crews and so on. I also have someone I trust keep an eye in every group here."

She ran spies then. This woman dealt in information—both officially and unofficially, she was the person who knew where everything was at all times. Nabiki felt a frission of excitement run up her spine. She had a good idea why Hitomi was telling her all this. Her smile was more predatory than she realized and Hitomi gave her a hard look.

"I don't really know if I can trust you. You're selfish and manipulative. Ranma thinks you're motivated by greed most of the time. From the stories I've heard, I bet its more about power and control than money." Nabiki's smile faded as Hitomi continued to speak, her voice low and hard. "I can work with that. Someone needs to be in control and someone who likes that and has worked at is better than someone who has no idea what they're doing. But—it can't just be a power game. This is the survival of the human race here and we need to be able to work together. Lady Setsuna's enough of a problem. I don't need a rival threatening the stability we have set up here. I do need an assistant."

Nabiki sat back in her chair. No one here seemed to have any concept of subtlety. She supposed that could come from being the last bastion of sanity and safety in a world ripped apart. Nabiki wasn't going to spend the rest of her life as someone's assistant—but it would be easier to consolidate a power base with the support of those already in power.

"I could help you. So how would you help me?" Nabiki decided she might as well go along with the bluntness everyone else was using.

Hitomi's eyes were cool and her smile tight. "You get a position of respect and responsibility—and the possibility for advancement. I'm sure you realize the Estate can't hold everyone forever. Eventually we'll have to find some way to expand. And you'll have experience and power when we do." Her face lit with amusement. "It also gets you out of laundry duty."

Nabiki chuckled softly. She could work with this. "As long as we understand each other. I do hate getting my hands wrinkly with soap and water."

Both women relaxed, trusting for the moment that they were on the same side. "Now, Hitomi, you said something about Lady Setsuna being a problem?"


End file.
